A MILLION LITTLE THINGS’ DJ Nash on His Directing Debut: ‘Everyone Wanted Me to Do As Well As I Wanted to Do’

A MILLION LITTLE THINGS creator DJ Nash put on a new hat for the Wednesday, April 13 episode of the ABC drama: director!

“I was originally supposed to do the [season] finale, because doing the finale means I didn’t have to step out of the writers room [in order to go to Vancouver to direct the show],” Nash recalls.

But when a new-to-the-show director had to drop out of helming “fingers crossed” due to a family matter, Nash and the team realized the episode was going to be a tough one to have another person take on.

“I was immediately concerned, because I was just finishing writing it with Michelle Leibel, and it was our funniest episode I think that we may have ever done,” Nash says. “I was really concerned, because a lot of times you have a drama director come in and you don’t know how strong they are in comedy. So as soon as the slot opened, we all kind of said, ‘Wait a minute, maybe this is the one I should do.'”

“I talked to production, I talked to Joanna Kerns, our producing director, and [executive producer] Terrence Coli, and we all sort of agreed, ‘Yes, go do this one,'” he continues. “And it was really fun for me.”

After spending so much time going between Los Angeles and the Vancouver-based set during the show’s early seasons, the pandemic (and production protocols) kept Nash away over the past few years. So getting to reunite with his close-knit crew made the experience even more powerful for the writer.

“I hadn’t seen the cast [on set] in two years…[in] half the time we’ve been on,” Nash marvels. “It was great to go up there. Everyone really brought their A-game. I had incredible support from our producing director, from our director of photography, and then eventually from our editor who cleaned up my mistakes.”

“It was almost like going to Parents Weekend,” he continues, with a laugh. “It was like, ‘Daddy’s home,’ and it was just great. Everyone came to set prepared, everyone cared. Everyone wanted me to do as well as I wanted to do.”

As for the contents of the episode itself, the last hour of the show ended with a cliffhanger, as Maggie (Allison Miller) revealed to Gary (James Roday Rodriguez) that she felt a lump. (The duo first met in a cancer support group.)

“As Allison so beautifully portrayed last season, the thing about being a survivor of cancer is you’re sort of always holding your breath and you don’t know if it’s going to resurface,” Nash notes. “It continues to affect you even after you’re in remission. I think the cancer scare and feeling the lump that Gary has is a reminder that they live under this umbrella.”

“The two of them know this journey together,” he continues. “And Gary, Maggie literally credits [him] with saving her life. And now it looks like she might be on the other side.”

But, as Nash noted, “fingers crossed” is also wildly funny.

“The backbone of [the episode] is this really funny game night,” Nash teases. “Where if you’ve ever played the game that we’re playing—or even if you’ve ever played any sort of games—the competitiveness, fun, and adventures, they just were so good. And I can’t wait for fans to see it.”

A MILLION LITTLE THINGS, Wednesdays, 10/9c, ABC

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